THE GYNECOLOGICAL AND OBSTETRICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF GIRLHOOD.

I have recently received a letter from Dr. George Engelmann, of Boston, announcing his intention of reading a paper before the Gynecological and Obstetrical Section at the June meeting of the Americal Medical Association, on "The Causes of the Increasing Sterility of American Women," and stating his conviction that the subject is of vital importance and needs investigating. The same authority, as President of the American Gynecological Society, made an elaborate address last year upon a very nearly related topic: "The American Girl of To-day," and aroused much interest in his carefully prepared and somewhat startling statistics. It would appear from his researches, and in these he was assisted by prominent educators, teachers in young women's colleges and normal schools and by the heads of mercantile houses where women are employed, that the absolutely normal, healthy girl is exceedingly rare. It is evident that for her own sake as a